Made To Be Broken
by Rokstar9000
Summary: The Elric brothers are long gone now, faded into legend. They are used as a deterrent against rulebreakers who learn alchemy. Zian and Kayla are two students at a school, far away from these legends, but still knowing about them. Now a cult that wishes to break the rules of alchemy- to create life- is causing the deaths of many of the students. Rating for language and violence.
1. An Unexpected Betrayal

Zian stood on the edge of a skyscraper looking out over the city. He watched as hundreds of other people hacked, bashed, and blasted their way through shadowy figures.

"Xaine! We could use some help down here!" one of them yelled up in his direction

'Who's Xaine?' he thought. 'And why do they seem to know me?' He felt a heavy gale begin to blow, pushing him off the building. As he fell, watching the ground rush up to meet him, his eyes widened. He began to scream, and soon after, hit the ground.

Zian's eyes opened as he gasped. He sat up, hitting his head on the ceiling of his dorm room.

"OW!" he yelled, flopping back down on the bed.

He heard laughter from the bunk under his.

"Thanks a lot, Lenny!" he groaned, rubbing his head.

Zian's younger brother Leon sat up, a pained look on his face. This was his sad attempt at looking angry.

"It's LEON! Not Lenny." he growled, rolling his eyes.

Zian laughed.

"Whatever. I'll call you Lenny if I want, little bro."

Leon looked absolutely miserable now.

"Come on, bro! Can't you at least call me Leon at school?" he begged. Zian nodded.

"Whatever. I'll try to keep your image... Though as a freshman you don't really have one..."

As Zian talked, he pulled off his black sleeveless shirt, then slid into his blood red military-style uniform. He didn't like that he had to wear a school uniform, even a simple one like this, but it was better than getting yelled at and getting detention. He sighed. At least he got to wear black pants.

He flipped his skull necklace out from under his shirt, and clipped some heavy chains to his pants. Finally, he pulled on a pair of black leather biker boots. He snapped the clasp of the boots shut and walked out the door, laughing to himself as he saw that Leon was still fighting with his overly-long hair in front of the mirror.

He took a deep breath of the fresh air, looking up at the perfectly clear sky, then began to walk toward the square. From there, a couple of his friends would meet up with him and they'd head to class. Nothing special.

"Hey Zian!" one of his friends, Kayla, called. She waved him over. "Sorry... The others are really sick today, I heard." she said as he walked over to her. She leaned forward. "So I guess it's just you and me..."

He smiled.

"Yeah, pretty much."

He was thinking heavily as they talked. Nick and Kyle had been fine last night, spending the night watching some random TV. Maybe it was all that anime he'd watched last night, but it seemed really weird that his friends had gotten sick only a couple hours after he'd left their dorm. Almost suspicious.

'Damn, man. Pull yourself together. That anime is REALLY getting to you.' he thought.

Kayla stared at him, looking worried.

"Are you okay, Zian? You look a bit... I don't know... out of it." she remarked. "Are you feeling all right?" He laughed.

"Yeah, I'm just a little tired still." he lied.

The last thing he needed was for Kayla to start thinking he was psycho. They separated to go to their classes, saying a quick goodbye. Zian frowned as he walked, thinking.

'Maybe I'm not crazy...' he thought. 'You never know, it COULD be something major...'

He quickly made up his mind, slipping out of the class building through a side door. As he did, he caught sight of Nick and Kyle. They were a different major than him, and so wore all-black versions of the same uniform. They had strange, blank stares, looking like they were asleep on their feet.

"Hey guys! Over here!" Zian called. They walked over, seeming to snap out of their trance-like state.

"Hey Kyle, it's Zian." Nick said, almost weakly. He sounded as tired as he looked.

"Damn, guys. If I'd known anime marathon night would drain you two that much I wouldn't have-" He stopped talking. He did so because each of his friends had grabbed one of his shoulders.

"Hey guys, what gives?" he complained as their grip tightened.

There was a sharp jerk on each arm as his 'friends' twisted them behind his back, then there were several loud cracks, and Zian screamed as he felt sharp lances of pain up each arm, then nothing.

"What the hell? What the hell?" he screamed as they threw him against the wall, then began to punch him as fast as they could. Each hit was followed by another, accuracy not mattering, but bringing a few sharp cracks as his ribs were broken. When they stopped, he slowly slid down the blood-splattered wall of the alley, unable to do anything else. He couldn't even speak anymore.

He was left leaning against that wall, feeling faint. A strange shadow seemed to cross over his supposed friends' faces as they turned, walking away.

Nick kicked Zian hard in the mouth as he left, a sick twisted smile on his face. Zian felt blood drip from between his lips, and noticed that Nick and Kyle had very quickly disappeared. As he felt his eyes begin to close, he saw people running towards him, led by Kayla. She looked more than concerned. She seemed... almost... devastated.

Zian woke, feeling a pain in his arms only slightly less intense than the bone shattering. Kayla's concerned eyes stared into his.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He considered it. A pain in his arms, a cut from one side of his mouth, and exhaustion? Definitely not okay.

"Not really..." he said, being completely honest. She sniffled, and he realized she had been crying. He sat up on the hospital bed, ignoring the pain, and put his arms around her. He knew right then that something was wrong. He saw a glint of steel. Kayla cried even harder.

"They... They had... Had to..." she broke off. He held her close, trying to calm her down.

"Listen. I'll be fine." He told her. He really didn't care too much that he had metal arms now.

'Honestly?' he thought. 'It's awesome.'

The pain rushed through his arms again, and he gasped, vision turning red as he fell to his hands and knees.

His eyes widened as he realized what had happened to him.

He had heard of automail, but didn't know he would ever need it. Of course, he hadn't expected his friends to turn on him and try to kill him, either. He slowly got up, Kayla still looking worried. Worried was actually way off. She looked terrified.

"So what happened?" she asked. "And why were you out back like that?"

"Nick and... Kyle..." he said. "They jumped me... for some reason... Broke both my arms... Beat the hell outta me..." he answered, swerving around the second half of her question.

She shook her head, rejecting the entire story with that one movement.

"It can't be! They're our friends! Why would they do something like that?" she asked.

"They looked... Different..." he whispered.

She shook her head again. "This shouldn't be happening... They swore to me this wouldn't happen..."

He stared at her.

"_Who _said this wouldn't happen?" he asked.

She looked into his eyes, her own strangely purple colored ones meeting Zian's bright green, bringing back memories from years ago. For a moment, he wished they could go back to the time when everything had been going right for both of them. Back when they would hang out until it was too dark to do anything but sleep, when everything had been simpler.

"The... alchemists..." she said.

"And who're the alchemists?" he asked, feeling like he was stumbling upon something very major.

"They're a secret group in this school... They practice transmuting... Almost like magic..." she answered. "They also tend to test new recruits through fights..."

'Oh, so that explains it!' Zian thought, somewhat bitterly.

He remembered, only a few months ago, when Kayla used to sneak out and visit him. He had noticed her new cuts and bruises every day.

Kayla began to cry again. "And now that I've talked, they'll kill me!"

"Listen to me, Kay. Listen. For old times' sake." She stopped and looked up.

"I won't let them touch you." Zian said. "Just one thing."

"Anything... If you'll forgive me." she whispered.

"Tell me everything you know about this alchemy or magic. Whatever it is, teach me. I get the feeling we'll have to fight fire with fire." he said. "I may not mind having two automail arms, but that doesn't mean I don't want revenge."

She nodded, seeming too miserable for words. There was a knock on the door.

"Young lady, it's been over twenty minutes!" a voice complained. Probably the doctor.

Kayla jumped.

"I'm sorry!" she called back. She locked eyes with Zian and nodded, then turned and left. As she did, he let himself slip into unconsciousness. Tomorrow, he would begin to get revenge.


	2. All Fun And Games

When Zian finally woke up, he yawned, stretching. He felt much better, his arms moving painlessly. He was still tired, but not nearly as bad as the last time he woke up. There was a knock on the door as he got dressed. He snapped on his shirt again, then went to answer the door. Kayla walked in, looking determined as she buttoned her long blue coat.

"Hey." she said, trying to smile.

She looked away, looking almost pained to see him, as he threw on his own long red military coat.

"Look," he said.

"It's not your fault. None of it." He smiled as she looked at him questioningly.

"As for the coat, it'll help keep the others guessing, at least for now." he said, answering her unasked question. She laughed.

"How do you always seem to guess what I'm thinking?" she asked. Now it was his turn to laugh.

"Lucky guesses, maybe?" he guessed.

She smiled.

"Maybe." She looked altogether more serious now.

"Okay, you asked to learn. Well follow me. I'll teach you the basics, for now."

He rolled his eyes behind her back.

'Basics?' he thought. 'Like I'm a little kid again?'

He complained to himself some more as he followed her.

Kayla led him around one building, then walked up to the iron bar fence surrounding the school. She scratched something on it, then put her hand on it, and it seemed to just melt, forming a hole.

"Whoa! I'm assuming-" Zian began.

"Yep. That's alchemy for ya. Escapes, weapons, buildings..." Kayla answered. "Whatever you can think of... Within a couple rules." He groaned. "Rules?"

She nodded. "And if you don't promise to follow them, I'm NOT teaching you." she said fiercely. "If you break one, you die. Not joking. Or, at the very least you lose a limb. Or two."

Zian sighed. "Fine... As fun as it sounds, I won't break any of the rules." he said sarcastically. "I think I've lost enough limbs to last a lifetime. Or three." She barely smiled.

"Okay. Well, here're the rules, as basic as I can make them..." she said.

"Rule number one: You get what you give. Equal exchange is what it is called. You can only transmute something that is the same mass as what you want to change it into." Zian nodded as Kayla continued. He asked a quick question. "So if I had something the same size as a person, could I-"

"NO!" Kayla snapped instantly, extremely loud. Zian stared for a long moment.

"Sorry." she said. "That's the second rule. Second, and actually, most important. Do NOT, under ANY circumstances, use transmutation on or to create or resurrect a human. It is both dangerous and forbidden." she asserted. "NEVER try to revive someone. I've heard of only one instance where the alchemists who attempted it survived, and one lost his body while the other lost a couple of limbs, from what I heard."

"Fun stuff..." Zian sighed.

"And finally, do NOT transmute any money or gold. It is forbidden to avoid 'severe temptation for the abuse of our powers' or something like that. I can't remember the exact wording."

Zian's jaw dropped.

"What? Oh come ON! Why do we even HAVE this ability, then?"

Kayla sighed.

"It's not supposed to be used for personal gain, just like in all those annoying books, though if lives are in danger or something then you can just say screw the rules."

"Well... that's all good, then." he said sarcastically. She actually laughed at that.

"Alright, so here're the basic skills it takes to do stuff." she said. She drew a strange symbol on the ground. "I'm assuming you've seen these before?" she said. He nodded.

"Yeah. I assumed it was just some little kid's design."

Kayla shook her head.

"It's how most of us do alchemy. We have to draw this circle, then touch whatever we're changing to it. Of course, there are exceptions, people with a special talent. They can do this without drawing anything."

She didn't explain how this was done, as it was a secret even she didn't understand.

And so Zian began to learn all the basics of alchemy, after a few weeks eventually getting to try it himself. He drew the circle carefully, then looked around.

Kayla had said to make whatever he wanted. As he closed his eyes, he came up with an idea that could get him on her good side for good, and moreover, explain some things he couldn't.

He pressed his hands to the circle with a flat clank of metal-on-stone, and concentrated. There was a bright flash of what seemed to be something that was between light and liquid, and a small stone figure rose from the ground, then slowly changed into polished silver. Zian picked it up, handing it to Kayla. She stared at the exact replica of her in silver.

"Wow... It's... perfect..." she said. She looked more closely. Every feature was there, but in ways, she felt that the looks were exaggerated.

"It looks like... me... But..." she trailed off.

"It's how I see you." Zian said, looking up and grinning. "I thought maybe you knew, but..."

She stood up, still holding the figure. "You... like me?" she asked. Zian nodded, not able to say anything. She looked away, her hair shielding her face. "Zian... I can't..." she said softly. "I'm sorry if it's kind of sudden, but-" he began. "No... It's not that..." she cut him off. "I'm... I'm actually with someone."

"Who?" he asked.

She avoided looking him in the eye.

"Damian." she said quietly. "He asked me... Last year."

Inside Zian's head, two parts of him seemed to fight for control. One was angry, both with her and with Damian, who was like his rival at this school. Damian also had a Military major, and seemed to be crushing Zian at everything.

The other side of him was understanding, extremely disappointed, but nothing more. As he fought internally in a split second, he felt crushed. The extreme disappointment became sadness, and now it was Zian's turn to become interested in the concrete ground around him. His expression hardened.

"All right, then..." he said coldly. He got up off his knees, brushing the dirt off his jeans. He refused to look Kayla in the eyes as he did so. "I see how it is." he added, so quietly she couldn't have possibly heard him.

They had met in the dark this time, but his eyes still seemed to have a shadow over them as the turned the corner. Kayla watched him go, tears welling in her eyes before spilling over.

'What did I do?' she asked herself as she stood in the dark, alone. She turned, quickly going into her dorm, and locking the door.

_**Author Note**__**: There is a somewhat bloody fight scene in the next chapter. If you don't like this sort of thing... well, don't read it. That's the best I can do for you.**_


	3. A Bloody Slaughter

Zian swore quietly at everything in the world as he walked through the door to his dorm room, climbed up to the top bunk and flopped on his back, still swearing under his breath, crushing the delicate silver figure into dust as he clenched his fist. Leon saw instantly as he walked through the door that Zian was angry.

"Hey bro... What happened?" he asked. Zian shook his head.

"It's stupid anyway..." he muttered.

"Look..." Leon said. "It's obviously not stupid to you if it's making you miserable right now. Now give. What happened?"

Zian punched the wall.

"I told Kayla I liked her..." he growled. Leon smiled.

"Took you long enough..." he said. "So what'd she sa-"

"She's with that bastard Damian, okay? Now will you just leave me alone?" Zian cut his brother off. He rolled over on the top bunk so that he was facing the wall.

If it was anyone except for Damian, he would have, however grudgingly, accepted it. Because it was him, all it made Zian want to do was beat the hell out of Damian even more than he normally felt like doing. He swore quietly again as he closed his eyes, drifting into a troubled sleep.

–

Damian sat back against the wall behind his dorm, smiling as Kayla walked up to him. She looked around at the others surrounding him, then glared.

"You said you weren't holding these anymore." she said softly. He looked down.

"Well, I kind of had to change my mind." He whispered to her. "The others complained."

"I don't care!" she said angrily. "One of my friends was hurt by one of YOUR alchemists. So you'd better cease with these gatherings." she continued. "What do you hope to accomplish, anyway?"

Damian knew she was truly angry, since she started talking all medieval-style when she got mad.

"I can't stop these meetings now! They'd kill me!" he defended. "And as for what we'll accomplish, we'll be the first to create an artificial form of life! We will create a living person!"

His eyes seemed to flash from dull gray to bright red as he said this, and Kayla began to wonder what was going on with him.

"You're sick!" she hissed. "You know that the price of creating life is too high to pay!"

Damian feigned submission, a look of false apology on his face.

"Of course. I don't know what I was thinking." he said. "I'll call it off at the end of this meeting."

Kayla smiled. "That's better." she said, throwing her arms around him.

–

Zian woke up, feeling sick. His head pounded, he felt emotionally... just... beaten down... and his thoughts were slow. Leon watched as he climbed down the ladder from the top bunk.

"You look like hell..." Leon said, frowning. "Just how much did you like this girl?"

Zian gave him the finger. Leon let out a low whistle. "That much? Wow."

Zian threw his coat on angrily.

"JUST SHUT UP, WILL YOU? FOR ONCE JUST SHUT UP!" he snapped and walked out the door.

He went behind one of the other dorms, drew a special circle he had created himself for this purpose, this one actually on his shoulder, and closed his eyes, concentrating. The metal sank in specific spots, etching the circle into his shoulder.

"Good." he said softly. "Now I've gotta test it..."

He laid his hand on the ground, closed his eyes, and concentrated again. This time, he shaped the stone around him, a perfect mold of his hand melting into the ground. He pulled his hand from the hole, smiling.

It worked! His idea had worked!

He carefully began to come up with a plan on how to take Damian out of the picture. Dig a hole out from under his feet? No, too much timing. Encase him in a stone block? No, he was probably an experienced alchemist. Fight him one-on-one to the death? He ran the risk of not being as skilled of a fighter as Damian, but otherwise, didn't see much wrong with that idea. Duels were a perfectly acceptable way to solve a dispute, and he had quite a few problems with Damian being around.

"Looks like we've got a winner, folks. Let's get this crap over with…" Zian muttered under his breath. With his artificial strength and the ability to do alchemy without drawing the circle, it'd almost be too easy for him to win.

He left the alley to wait for Damian at a corner, ignoring the strange looks people gave him because of his appearance. They'd have more important things to stare at soon.

–

Damian turned a corner, running straight into- Zian! Inside his head, Damian raged at Zian, wishing he hadn't sent a couple of grunts to take care of him. They hadn't even managed to kill him properly.

"Watch it." Zian said coldly, pushing him into the wall.

Damian smiled. Obviously the stupid kid was just LOOKING for trouble.

"What're you gonna do about it?" he asked, getting in Zian's face. Zian stayed completely calm as he answered in the same cold tone.

"I came here to start a fight." Zian said. "And luckily, you caught me in a bad mood."

Everyone in the square gathered around the two of them as Damian threw the first punch. Zian ducked, then drove a punch into Damian's stomach. As Damian fell, he pressed his hands to the ground, standing up with a stone sword in his hands. The crowd began to talk among themselves, wondering where he had gotten it as he slashed at Zian.

'Finally!' he thought happily, 'A reason to kill the stupid kid!'

The hilt of Damian's sword slammed into Zian's spine, and as he fell, his eyes widened. 'He's never been that fast!' Zian thought in surprise. He landed, then brought his legs up with a scissor kick around Damian's neck, hoping to bring the bigger boy down quickly now. He rolled as he fell, then groaned as he felt his back crack again.

Zian swore quietly, then pushed himself back up. Damian's head had been slammed into the ground as he had been pulled down.

'He's gotta be done!' Zian thought, starting to crack a smile. A few of the spectators echoed his thoughts. Damian's legs stirred, then he got to one knee. He had a sadistic smile on his face as he rose solidly to his feet. Zian stared, his jaw dropping.

'How can he still be conscious?!' he asked himself in horror. 'I hit him as hard as I could!'

Damian slashed in a lightning-fast blur. Sweat dripped down Zian's neck as he dodged each slash by a hair. Finally, he slipped, and the stone blade slashed from just below his left eye down, leaving a thin line of blood down his face. He fell to his hands and knees.

"Any last words?" Damian asked, advancing slowly. "If so, now's your chance."

Zian clenched his fists as the cut on his face burned.

"I WON'T lose to you again!" he said softly. The same liquid-light from before gathered around his hands as he knelt, enraged.

The light formed into a long blade-shaped, extending from each of Zian's wrists. The metal of his arms reformed, filling in the shape of the light with a steel blade. He rose with a grunt, turning to block Damian's blade with a clash of metal-on-stone.

He retaliated with as much speed as he could, groaning internally with frustration as he was blocked by the dark grey stone blade once again.

Once again, he swore under his breath, then Damian aimed an overhead slash at his head. He lifted his dual blades, catching Damian's in between them. He held the deadlock there, Damian putting more and more pressure on him, trying to force his way through. The stone gave slightly under the steel.

Zian grunted from the effort, but held his own against the bigger Damian's strength continuously. The stone blade gave a little more under Zian's dual steel ones, then with a crack they sliced the stone in half. Zian triumphantly pressed his assault, attacking Damian with a whirlwind of slashes. His wrist blades carved a bloody path across Damian's chest and neck, barely missing his throat. Zian threw a punishing kick into Damian's stomach, then with unbelievable speed slipped around behind him and put his blades to the bigger boy's neck. Blood tinted the bright silver steel dark red.

"How about you? Any last words?" he hissed.

"STOP!" an extremely familiar voice rang throughout the square, causing everyone to turn. In a flash, Damian pulled a knife out of a hidden pocket, stabbing Zian through the chest. Zian fell with the blade buried in his heart.

"NO!"

Kayla pushed her way through the crowd, falling to her knees by Zian's side. She pulled the glistening red blade from between his ribs, dropping it to the side. She cradled his head in her lap.

"Zian! No Zian, please, no!" she whispered.

He didn't say a word, just lying there, not even breathing. A shadow seemed to cross over Kayla's eyes as she looked at her fallen friend. Tears filled her eyes.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered, "I should have seen... what he was... I'm... so... sorry..."

She clenched her fists, then opened them, pressing her hands together before slamming them onto the ground. With a cry of rage, she rose, a smaller stone blade of her own in her hands. Before everyone's eyes it silvered as it inexplicably turned into steel.

"You selfish murdering BASTARD!" she screamed, charging at Damian, the blade extended to stab him.

He gasped as the blade slipped through his ribs, coming out of his back with a spray of blood. He croaked wordlessly, then slid off the blade, landing on the ground with a thud.

Kayla turned to the crowd, charging into the middle, her blade slashing through flesh, blood spraying in every direction as she took out her fury on the gathered students. Everyone in the school, once spectators, now screamed as her steel sword cut down every last one of them. Finally, Kayla stopped, the square filled with bodies, her vision red, her black, blood-soaked hair plastered to her face. She dropped the sword with a clatter, looking at the carnage she had left in her wake. No one had survived the deadly onslaught of steel.

_**Author**_**_Note_****_: That's all I currently have. I will work on the second part when I can, don't expect it too soon. As for second part, I mean a 4th chapter, but it has a different tone to it. This one was really to introduce the two main characters, kind of like a prologue._**


End file.
